Wellsville, Osawatomie game lives up to hype
By MIKE WEBBER, Special to The Herald
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WELLSVILLE — The Osawatomie Trojans faced off against the Wellsville Eagles Friday in what promised to be a very close game.
Both teams came into the game with only a single win, both having defeated Prairie View. Both teams strongly are committed to running the ball, though they go about it very differently stylistically.
Unlike many of the promises you will hear in this election season, this one was 100 percent fulfilled as the Trojans escaped with a 14-13 victory. A missed extra point with 4:37 left in the game probably was all that kept this game from being decided in overtime.
Eagles head coach Mark Luedtke described the homecoming game as “a very tough loss to take.”
“I felt like we played better than we have in past weeks, but stupid mistakes at the end kept us from getting the win,” Luedtke said.
Wellsville received the opening kickoff and Austen Moore returned it to the 41-yard line. It was Moore’s first of the season, and he would have a large impact on the Wellsville offense.
The Eagles then put together an eight-play drive that came to a halt on the Trojans 16-yard line, when they failed to convert on fourth down and four yards to go.
That was the first in a series of missed opportunities for the Eagles.
The Eagles forced the Trojans to punt on their first drive. The Eagles were able to move the ball to mid-field where the Trojans’ Brandon Oakes jumped on a fumble to set up his team’s first score.
The Trojans drove the ball 45 yards in just six plays, being aided greatly by an Eagle roughing-the-passer violation, to go ahead 7-0. Jameson Greenwood rumbled in over the right side from 6 yards out for the touchdown.
Wellsville was able to tie the score on the next drive. The key play of the drive came on a punt by Wellsville, but the Trojan return man muffed the catch allowing the Eagles’ Jesse LaMay scoop the ball up for his team.
Six plays later, Moore powered the ball into the end zone behind the left side of the line, and Zack DeVorss’ extra point knotted the score at 7-7 with 6:06 left in the half.
The Eagles had one more nice drive before halftime, driving the ball from their own 20-yard line to the Osawatomie 16-yard line.
With just 6 seconds remaining in the half, they attempted a 33-yard field goal but it was blocked and scooped up by Osawatomie’s Westin Shay, who might have taken it all the way back for a score if DeVorss hadn’t managed to catch him just 20 yards from the end zone.
Osawatomie runs all their plays from a wing set, which looks like the spread offense that so many college teams run now. However, the Trojans use it to spread the defense to run the ball rather than pass. The Eagles were able contain the Trojans’ offense in the second half other than one big gain on a reverse. Greenwood’s 33-yard gain on that reverse was the key play that put Osawatomie back into the lead.
The Trojans scored on a 6-yard pass by Seth Jones to Sean Callahan with 2:23 left in the third quarter. Jones faked the handoff and then rolled left, lofting the ball over the out stretched hands of the defender who had the receiver well-covered.
The Eagles’ final score of the game came on a five-play drive that covered 40 yards. Moore had the big play of the drive when he gained 19 yards on a toss to the left side; he stiff-armed a defender to gain an additional 10 yards on the play. He plunged into the end zone from 1 yard out on the next play. The extra point kick failed, and with 4:37 remaining, the Eagles trailed 14-13.
The Trojans’ final drive of the game came with back-to-back gains for first downs before the Eagle defense clamped down and forced a punt with 1:50 remaining in the game. On the punt play, the Eagles sent an all-out blitz, which failed to block the punt and they were flagged for roughing the kicker. The 15-yard personal foul was an automatic first down, and the Trojans were able to run out the game clock.
“We felt like we had to make a play there and just weren’t able to get the punt blocked,” Luedtke said.
Moore was the Eagles’ leading rusher with 90 yards on 22 carries. Brandon Ebeck was seven of nine passing for 77 yards.
Greenwood had 69 yards on 12 carries to lead Osawatomie, while Jones was four of 11 passing for 26 yards.
Wellsville falls to 1-4 on the season and next week will travel to Garnett to face the Anderson County Bulldogs.
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